Hospital gown

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to an improved garment for use by patients receiving treatment in a hospital. The disclosed gown provides the patient with greater comfort and reduced incidence of embarrassment by covering the patient&#39;s body still while allowing easy access thereto, to facilitate the administration of medical treatment. This device is particularly beneficial to modest patients who feel uncomfortable during hospital stays because of hospital gowns that do not adequately close and thereby expose various portions of the patient&#39;s body. In the preferred embodiment, the hospital gown of the present invention has an open front, a partially open back, and a plurality of hook and loop-type fastening strips to ensure adequate closure of the garment.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority of Provisional Application60/179,152 filed Jan. 31, 2000, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Any person who has had to spend time in the hospital is aware ofthe degrading and humiliating experience it can be because of theembarrassment caused by having to wear the usual hospital gown. Manypeople react adversely to their hospital stays because they recall howhospital gowns do not close properly, especially in the back, oftenleaving their buttocks and other portions of the body exposed. In orderto reduce or eliminate this embarrassment and to provide for a morefashionable and versatile hospital gown capable of easy designadaptation for wearing by both men and women, I have invented a hospitalgown depicted in the attached drawings and disclosed in further detailherein below. This disclosure is merely exemplary and is not intended tolimit the full scope of my invention, as variations and modifications ofthe design and procedures within the scope of the invention disclosed inthis application will be apparent to persons skilled in the art.

[0003] The gown according to this invention is a one-piece gown witheither a lapel-type collar or a mandarin-type collar, that is split allthe way down the front. The back of the gown is split down to a pointapproximately eight inches from the bottom hem in back. The sides of thegown in front are brought together and attached by three short pieces offabric-based hook and loop fastener, such as VELCRO® brand fasteningmaterials, or the like. The fasteners can be snaps or other equivalentfasteners, including conventional ties, although hook and loop fastenersare preferred.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004]FIGS. 1A and 1B are front and back views, respectively, of a manwearing a hospital gown in accordance with this invention having a lapelcollar.

[0005]FIGS. 2A and 2B are front and back views, respectively, of a womanwearing a hospital gown in accordance with this invention having amandarin collar, in which the gown is shown in outline form so that therelationship between the fasteners and anatomical features of thewoman's body will be apparent.

[0006]FIGS. 3A and 3B are front and back views, respectively, of thegown shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, with color or printing on the gown asfurther disclosed below.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0007] As depicted in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the hospital gown of thisinvention is a short-sleeved single-piece garment having a lapel collar.The garment is shown with three hook and loop fasteners in front andfour hook and loop fasteners in back. The number of fasteners in theback can be varied depending on the size of the garment to be made. Icontemplate that gowns in accordance with this invention will be made innine different sizes, three for children, three for adult females andthree for adult males. Obviously, the garments for children can containeven fewer than the depicted number of fasteners, provided that thefasteners are suitably positioned so that maximum concealment of thebody while the gown is being worn is possible, consistent with the needsof hospital staff to open the gown for medical and other purposes. Thegowns can be made of fabric or paper, or any other suitable material forhospital gowns.

[0008] Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, the gown 10 is divided into a firsthalf 14 and a second half 16 by means of a vertical slit extending fromthe bottom hemline 19 on the front side of the gown 10, through the topneck opening 12 and extending down the back side of the gown 10 to apoint above the bottom hemline 19. The area between the terminus of thevertical slit and the bottom hemline 19, on the backside of the gown 10,defines a seam 18 that joins the first half and the second half of thegown 10. Further, armholes 11 may be included in the gown 10. Tosecurely close the gown 10 in a manner that provides easy access to thepatient's body to medical personnel, the vertical slit may be closedwith fastening devices such as “Velco”, i.e., hook and loop fasteningstrips that are detachably attached to one another. Other fasteningdevices such as buttons, snaps, and hook and eye devices are suitablefor use as well.

[0009] As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the fasteners on the male gown arelocated at approximately the middle of the chest, the navel and slightlybelow the pubic area, so that there will be maximum coverage. Likewise,the fasteners shown on the back of the gown are located just below theneck, in the middle of the back, just above the buttocks and just belowthe buttocks in order to provide maximum concealment while the gown isclosed. One or more of the fasteners may be omitted or moved if desiredby the user. Making the gown in one piece makes it easier to keep theback of the gown closed and thus to avoid embarrassing exposure of thebuttocks and other portions of the back. The hook and loop fastenerstrips shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B can be of the same length or ofdifferent lengths, depending upon the order of the end user. It ispreferred that the hook and loop fastener strips on the front of thegarment of FIG. 1A be approximately one inch in length, while thefasteners for the back should be approximately four inches in length formaximum security.

[0010] The hospital gowns of FIGS. 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B are sized moreappropriately for women and may have flaring at the hips and tucking atthe waist in order to provide a more comfortable conformity of thegarment to the shape of the patient, as desired. It is, of course,within the scope of the invention not to include any such tapering. Asdepicted in the drawings, the female garment has fasteners slightlyabove the breasts, at approximately navel height and just below thepubic area in order to provide maximum privacy on the front of thegarment while allowing for opening of the garment by disengaging of allor fewer than all of the fastening strips for medical and otherpurposes.

[0011] The back views shown in FIGS. 2B and 3B demonstrate that thebottom end of the opening of the gown in back is approximately eightinches above the bottom hem of the garment, so that the bottom of theback opening of the garment comes approximately half-way between thebuttocks and the knees of the wearer. As depicted in FIGS. 2B and 3B,the hook and loop fasteners are shown as being located just below thecollar, in the middle of the back, just above the buttocks and justbelow the buttocks. FIGS. 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B show an upright or mandarincollar, although the lapel-type collar shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B may alsobe used on the female gowns according to this invention. Other collarstyles as will be readily apparent to persons skilled in this art mayalso be employed.

[0012] An advantage of this invention is that the substrate materialsfor the gowns may be easily printed or otherwise patterned prior tofabrication. For example, children's gowns may be mint or pink in colorand may be illustrated with toys or the like. Female gowns may be pinkwith appropriate pictures for women thereon, while the male gowns may becolored light blue or other appropriate colors for males and haveappropriate pictures on them such as golf clubs, footballs and the like.The process for printing these patterns and colors may be carried out oncomputer driven, wide-format ink jet printers readily available in themarket for printing designs and patterns in six to eight colors. Oncethe material for making the gowns has been appropriately printed, thematerial for the gowns may be die-stamped for each size and type, thearms machine sewn thereon and the hook and loop fastener strips can beplaced by machine in accordance with usual manufacturing practices inthe garment industry.

[0013] It should be apparent from the above disclosure that thisinvention provides an easy way for hospitals and other such institutionsto provide garments for their patients to wear which make their hospitalor other institutional stays more pleasant. The use of appropriatelyplaced fasteners on the front and back of the garments, coupled with theclosure of the rear of the garment for a distance above the lower hem,produce a garment which is easy to manufacture, and thus inexpensive,while being appreciated by patients. It is well known that happypatients make fewer complaints about their hospital stays, enjoy moreuneventful convalescences and lodge fewer complaints and claims againsthospitals and other institutions.

In the claims
 1. A garment comprising: a hospital gown having a frontside, a back side, a bottom hemline, and a top neck opening; a verticalslit extending from the bottom hemline of the front side of the hospitalgown, through the top neck opening, and terminating at a point above thebottom hemline of the back side of the hospital gown thereby dividingthe hospital gown into a first half and a second half; a seam portionjoining the first half of the hospital gown and the second half of thehospital gown defined by the area of the hospital gown between theterminus of the vertical slit and the bottom hemline; and a plurality offastening devices for detachably attaching the first side of thehospital gown and the second side of the hospital gown.
 2. The garmentof claim 1 further comprising a waist region, the waist region beingtapered to conform to the waist of a female patient.
 3. The garment ofclaim 1 further comprising a hip region, the hip region being flared toconform to the hips of a female patient.
 4. The garment of claim 1wherein the hospital gown comprises a textile fabric.
 5. The garment ofclaim 1 wherein the hospital gown comprises paper.
 6. The garment ofclaim 1 wherein the fastening devices comprise hook and loop strips. 7.The garment of claim 1 wherein the fastening devices comprise buttons.8. The garment of claim 1 wherein the fastening devices comprise snaps.9. A garment comprising: a hospital gown having a front side, a backside, a bottom hemline, and a top neck opening; a vertical slitextending from the bottom hemline of the front side of the hospitalgown, through the top neck opening, and terminating at a point above thebottom hemline of the back side of the hospital gown thereby dividingthe hospital gown into a first half and a second half; a seam portionjoining the first half of the hospital gown and the second half of thehospital gown defined by the area of the hospital gown between theterminus of the vertical slit and the bottom hemline; and a plurality ofhook and loop fasteners for detachably attaching the first side of thehospital gown and the second side of the hospital gown.